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Sure, Friday’s jobs report was pretty good — 288,000 jobs were created in April, when the expectation was 215,000. Until now, the recent jobs reports have been kind of “meh.” So the latest one ought to be good news for the vulnerable Democrats who have been running in a lousy economic year.

Even now, though, it’s still a tough economic year if you’re a Democrat running for re-election. It is, after all, the sixth year of Barack Obama’s presidency, and voters don’t see a big turnaround no matter what the indicators say. And no matter how voters feel about other issues — especially Obamacare — polls show they still see the economy as the most important issue facing the country, as they do in most elections.

The public’s mood is so sour that in a recent strategy memo, pollster Stan Greenberg warned Democratic candidates not to even say the word “recovery,” because it strikes voters as out of touch and will make them tune out the rest of the economic message. And the last thing they want is for Republicans to pounce on them for celebrating too early.

“The reality is, most people still feel economic anxiety,” said Democratic pollster John Anzalone. “That’s just a reality, whether you’re a Democratic candidate or a Republican candidate.”

That’s why, when the new jobs report came out Friday, vulnerable Democrats either stayed away from it or embraced it cautiously, with the only safe thing to say: Yes, it’s good news, but there’s a lot more work to be done. No champagne corks were heard popping.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire tweeted a link to a bipartisan energy efficiency bill she’s pushing with Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio: “Good jobs #’s today but more work remains. Should focus on bipartisan efforts to grow economy like #energyefficiency.”

That formula kept her close to the model President Barack Obama followed at his Friday press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “The grit and determination of the American people are moving us forward, but we have to keep a relentless focus on job creation and creating more opportunities for working families.”

And other Senate Democrats in the most closely watched races, like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Kay Hagan of North Carolina, avoided saying anything at all.

The reality, Democratic strategists say, is that even a good jobs report isn’t a sure ticket to an easier re-election campaign — especially since there’s no guarantee the trend will hold up beyond one report.

“Economists may be able to call this a real turning point in the economy, but I would not be holding my breath waiting for many Democrats to say so, especially those up for reelection,” said Jim Manley, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “The growth may be solid, but I just don’t think that many Americans are feeling better about the state of the economy yet, so I think members need to proceed carefully.”

Most vulnerable Democrats have been taking pains to assure voters that they understand their economic struggles. That’s how Mark Udall of Colorado tackled the sensitive issue in a recent campaign speech: “For far too many, times have been hard. Too many middle-class and working Colorado families are still struggling to get by, struggling to get ahead. There are certainly some signs of hope … But we can’t let up.” Campaign spokesman James Owens said Udall still stands by that quote.

But it gets even more complicated in states like North Carolina, where even Democrats have pointed out that the labor force is actually shrinking, according to Thomas Mills, a Democratic consultant who’s based there.

That was also a theme of Republicans’ responses to Friday’s jobs report, as both House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, pointed out the jobs report also showed more than 800,000 people had left the workforce.

“Hagan can certainly tout the jobs report as the country getting on the right track and debunking the job killing claims Republicans have made about Obamacare, but she should be cautious until we see if this is a trend,” said Mills, who’s not affiliated with the Hagan campaign. “We’ve seen good reports followed by bad ones for awhile now.”